Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

It had been rough going for the past year, but as Shun Akiyama stretched out on his new sofa it was official: Sky Finances was up and running once again! His old office had been-refurbished just the way he liked it, every book was on the bookshelf in just the right order. Just like how it used to be “See Hana, it's just like old times!” He declared, twisting himself to look at the brunette at the impromptu reception desk.

“You make it sound like the old times were good.” Hana sighed as she typed furiously at her computer.

“You're such a downer today Hana-chan,” Akiyama yawned before pulling himself up “We've barely started giving out money and your already this negative. There hasn't even been time for me to miss a trash collection!”

“Trash was yesterday.” Hana pointed out.

“What really!? Since when was trash Tuesdays?” The proprietor yelled, marching over to the computer as he threw on his pinstripe jacket “Let me check the local government website. That's gotta show it as Fridays...” he mumbled before catching a glimpse of what was on screen “Uh... Hana-chan?” He asked nervously “What are you up to?”

Hana smiled from behind the monitor, the glare of the screen reflecting in her glasses “Just getting some extra help organizing you.” She answered in a faux sweet voice.

“So... you're getting yourself an assistant?” Akiyama asked, looking over the numerous profile pictures of young to... less-young women wearing or not wearing a variety of clothing “Didn't know anyone put artistic nudes on their resume.”

“It's not an assistant, it's a girlfriend.” his long-suffering receptionist corrected.

“Oh. So I was right the first-”

“For you.”

“WHAT?!” Snapped Akiyama.

“I've set you up a dating profile, I've been charitable so I'm getting a lot of matches for you... although they don't believe the age sometimes.” Hana explained with a smile.

“Since... how long has this been going?” he asked, eyes wide.

“Oh, ever since you called me back. I figured that if I couldn't be around all the time to make sure you're okay I should get someone who could.” Hana waved off as she scooted her chair back in satisfaction.

“You make it sound like I need a mother more than a girlfriend...” Akiyama groaned “Anyway, I'm in a dangerous line of work here! I can't be putting an innocent woman through all this.”

“Ahem.” Hana coughed as Akiyama quickly realised his grave mistake.

“I.. I mean, someone without sufficient training to be able to fend off thugs who think it's a good idea to shake us down, not that you're not an angel Hana-chan but it's just that you can also well... how do I put this?” he said, starting to sweat.

“Which is why I've set this up for so long,” Hana began, smirking as Akiyama tried to recover his composure “You need someone intelligent, thoughtful, organized and the ability to kick another man's head off. Fortunately for you I think I've found you someone already.”

It had been rough going for the past year, but as Sae Niijima relaxed at her desk in her own personal office it was official. The Niijima legal agency was up and running. With a new defence attorney badge pinned to her lapel and the last of the paperwork dealt with it was time to have a well deserved celebration as she took a slight break before searching for clients. Unfortunately for her, the only people she really knew and tolerated were associates of her little sister. That meant on her grand opening, her office was full of teenagers using her office as though it was a college common room.

After having rejected Yusuke's offer to add a few of his latest works of art to the walls, Sae made her way over to the one normal bastion of sanity in the sea of teenage strangeness that happened to be on a laptop “Makoto, what are you doing?” She asked, noticing Haru and Makoto crowding around a small screen pointing things out.

“Nothing!” The younger Niijima sister yelped, instinctively pulling the screen down.

“Keep it open, I think I found one!” Haru insisted, grabbing the top of the screen herself.

“Found what?” Sae asked, looking over to see just what had got the two's interest “Don't you two have boyfriends already?” she asked curtly as she looked at the sea of pictures and profiles with a disapproving glare.

“It's not for us!” Makoto said defensively as Haru turned back to the screen.

“Not for you then... this is a dating site, right?” Sae asked, slightly confused.

“Mmhmm.” Haru nodded, still smiling even as her co-conspiritor's face was turning a shade that could stop traffic.

“So why are you two looking at it?”

“Well it's...” Makoto mumbled “Oh! I didn't say before, but I got the grades for the first run of papers and it turns out I came top-” she said quickly before the patented Niijima glare told her to stop changing the subject “...Its for you.”

The words were spoken, they reached the older woman's ears, but somewhere between there and the brain they became incomprehensible gibberish “What?” She asked, taking a step back.

“Not to be rude, but when was the last time you went on a date?” Haru asked as everyone else in the room slowly turned to face the three.

“What!?” Sae snapped “What's that got to do with anything? I've been busy!” she said, getting louder with every word.

“Which is why we did this for you!” Haru said with a smile “It was Makoto's suggestion.”

“It certainly was not that's a dirty lie.” Makoto insisted.

“So we decided that maybe it'd be good to find new people to be friends with, and seeing as you've been busy setting up a new law firm we could do that for you!” Haru continued, undisturbed by the growing redness on Sae's cheeks.

“W-with a dating website?” She spat out.

“We even made a profile already,” the heiress cheered while Makoto wished for the ground to swallow her up. Sae looked at the screen as the blush and every other pigment of colour fled from her face “I had to ask Makoto to fill out a lot of the personal interests. I didn't know you were a kickboxing champion in college!” Haru added with a sense of awe.

“How... how long has this been up?” Sae asked, her voice descending to a hoarse whisper.

“A few days. You were really busy.” Makoto confessed.

“And it's gone...” the new defence attorney began.

“Great! You've had hundreds of invites!” Haru finished “Although most of them were from people I wouldn't recommend. I think we've found someone who you'd really like just now.”

“...Really...”

“He's the CEO of a small finance firm, has an interest in martial arts like you... although why he put such a high priority on it I'm not sure... oh and according to this he's super sweet and kind to pretty much everyone.” the fluffy haired student cooed.

“...Why not...” Sae sighed, thinking that maybe going with this stupid idea might be enough to kill it off for good.

“Great! I'll agree to this one now.”

“Aha!” declared Hana “We got a date!”

“By We you mean Me?” Akiyama groaned.

“So, what do you fancy? Sushi? Ooh, if you want to go really romantic there's this Italian restaurant that just opened up...” the receptionist planned.

“A response already?” Haru gasped “Do you like Italian, Sae?” She asked before hitting agree, giving the already stunned attorney no time to react “It's a date!”

“Italian it is! You like pizza, don't you?” Hana asked, not bothering to turn to face her boss.

“I guess...” the financier groaned, thinking of all the ways he could politely explain to whoever this woman was going to be that they had both been the victims of a malicious actor trying to embarrass the good people of Tokyo.

“If I have to.” was the dual response from offices across the city as two people dreaded the fun activity that others had signed them up for.

Chapter Text

Akiyama cringed as he walked through the restaurant door, the bell ringing above the frame summoning attention that he really didn't want right now. Whoever had designed this place had a full theme in mind and a laser focused demographic of young-ish couples on romantic dates that could have been taken out of a Disney movie. The décor somehow managed to combine traditional with the slightly whimsical and dim ceiling lights were supported by candles stuck in old wine bottles on every table, there was even a single rose set in a vase when he explained that he was going to have company on his small table, everything was set out to try and make the evening magical when the financier would have been more happy grounded in a reality where secretaries don't try and set their bosses up on semi-blind dates. At least the wine list was comprehensive and priced somewhere between hostess club and actual reasonable prices for reasonable people, if it wasn't for the effort put in to making this romantic it might be a decent place to eat in general.

He had tried to tidy up, make himself look presentable as possible. This was a date even if he didn't want it and that required a certain dress code. No shirts that had been worn for days without washing, ironed suit trousers, not too uptight of a jacket (still in maroon like the rest of his decent-ish wardrobe) but one that had certainly been given a once over by the dry cleaners. Shun Akiyama was looking good tonight, all he had to do now was find a way to break it to the poor woman that he hadn't actually arranged this for them but he was still willing to pay for both food and drinks within reason. Depending on his date's reaction, that might be a whole bottle of wine worth of reason.

Sae Niijima was in a similar mood as she stepped out of the taxi in a low-cut black dress, a red shawl around her shoulders and red high heels. While a date wasn't what she wanted in amongst setting up her law firm, it was reality and therefore an effort must be made to keep up appearances even if she was walking into the restaurant with every intention to confess that her sister had set them up and it was probably better if they just had an enjoyable meal and leave it at that, and it was something all the more difficult when she entered and heard the faint violins and accordions that passed for background music. This whole establishment was trying to be romantic and were it not for the presence of other couples in states of pre, post and currently kissing, she would have assumed that this was one of her sister's friends ideas down to even the brickwork.

Trying to not cringe past the younger as she was lead to a table with an older man in a maroon jacket, Sae sighed as she sat down “Shun Akiyama I presume?” She asked, trying not to sound like she was the Spanish Inquisition.

“Guilty as charged,” Akiyama joked with a slightly strained smile “So you must be Sae Niijima then, nice to finally meet you.” He said, restraining himself from adding 'I guess' at the end.

“Likewise,” Sae replied, also restraining herself from adding anything that would give away her motives, easier to just play it off as general unease “Is this... your first time?” she asked, quickly adding “At online dating.” after the man's smile quickly vanished for a brief moment.

“Huh? Oh! Yeah, it was kind of scary at first glance... didn't really know what I was doing when I was using it.” He half-admitted. It was kind of intimidating and he didn't know what he was doing because he wasn't the one doing it.

“Ah, I see... it was a similar experience for me as well.” she nodded, suddenly becoming very engaged in the wine list.

“Mhm,” Akiyama agreed, likewise looking down the selection of ways to get expensively hammered “Do you have any preferences for a wine bottle?”

“It's better to stick to individual glasses for now,” Sae shut down, noting the prices of the bottles. If she was going to be covering for all this, she wasn't paying full markup for something that they might not drink “I'll have the prosecco.” That at least was something she knew she could drain a glass of regardless of what food it was with.

“Alright then!” Akiyama declared with a smile as they rattled off their respective orders to the waiter and were left in the awkward silence waiting for their first course “So... kickboxing champion, prosecutor and now attorney? That's quite a history.” he said, trying to break the ice before it turned into a glacier and crushed them under sheer social embarrassment.

“Uh... yes, I've only recently started up my own firm.” Sae said, sending longing glances to the kitchen over Akiyama's shoulder.

“Forgive me if this sounds rude, but doesn't it take years before you're allowed to set up your own firm?” he asked, trying to keep the conversation going as the drinks arrived.

“If you're starting from just a law degree, yes. Fortunately having spent several years as public prosecutor, that counted towards several years experience instead of working for another firm so I was able to go it alone as soon as I received the badge in the mail.” Sae answered, relaxing slightly. This was something she could deal with.

“Wait, those pins are actually real, not something TV made up? Like with the powdered wigs?” Akiyama asked, quickly taking a rather large sip of the glass of indeterminate red wine that was sat down with a small plate of salad and fish.

“The wigs are British, but yes. Attorney badges are real, the same with Prosecutor badges. Although with that case you don't really need them as the police generally know who you are and why you're allowed to look at dead bodies. It's more for the news casters so they know who to point a camera at as they walk down the steps of the courthouse,” she said, regretting mentioning corpses just before eating a meal but to both their credit, they managed to hold their nerves and not balk, even if Sae needed a full gulp of the prosecco afterwards “Ah, so how long have you been working in finance?”

“Since I left college back in... it was a while ago,” Akiyama answered, taking the time to take a few mouthfuls of his first course “Started out as a trader for a bank after I'd done my year of coffee fetching, that...didn't work out so well, but then I got a lucky windfall, set out on my own and eventually I'd worked my way back as an independent trader before setting up Sky Finances as a loan company for those who found the banks too manipulative or intimidating to work with. Which turned out to be a lot of people. Who'd have thought not being trash was a valid business strategy?”

“Didn't you say you started out working for a bank though?” Sae asked as she subtley scraped the vegetation away from the delicious fish. Makoto wasn't there to keep her on the straight and narrow, she could eat or not eat whatever the hell she felt like.

“I did, that's how I know they're trash.” he answered, earning an earnest chuckle from both Sae and himself.

The plates were taken away and the glasses replaced, the smokey air around the candle seemed much more relaxed even as Sae picked her moment “Akiyama... I have something to admit.”

Mental images ran across Shun's brain for a long time, cutting off interaction with his mouth beyond going “...Oh?”

“I... didn't arrange this for myself,” she confessed as Akiyama's brain restarted “My sister... thought it would be a good idea for me to get a boyfriend,” Sae continued as he started to laugh “What's so funny?” She snapped.

“Nothing... nothing,” he lied, trying to drown the giggles with more booze “But... you'll never believe this but... same thing happened to me.”

“Really?” the suddenly shocked attorney let out.

“Well, it was my secretary, not my sister... but if I had one they'd be working together on this.”

“Let me guess, you'd just finished setting up your office just how you like it and before you can let your hair down she decided 'you know what would be very relaxing? A meal with someone you'd never met before!'” Sae pondered, starting to chuckle herself.

“Got it in one!” Akiyama declared, raising his glass.

“Although if it's your secretary, why didn't she pull you on a date herself?” Sae asked.

“She's known me for so long we've already hit the later married couple stage of a non-relationship. If I tried being romantic with her she'd be chasing me out of my own office.”

“And here she wrote that you were very sweet.” Sae teased, running her finger harmoniously over the flute glass.

“Oh I am. It's her that can be vicious when she wants to.” he added as they both laughed and signalled for more drinks, breathing sighs of relief.

“So...” Sae began as the pasta arrived on time “Since this isn't a date any more, how do you want to pay for this?”

“You had to ask after I already ordered something else, didn't you?” Akiyama groaned, twirling spaghetti around a fork “It's fine, I can cover the bill.”

“Wouldn't it be better to go Dutch and split it?” Sae asked

“Is this why you said to only order glasses and not bottles?” Akiyama teased, wondering why splitting the bill was called 'Going Dutch'.

“Well, that and the prices here. It's almost host club prices.” Sae whispered with an offended expression.

“Wait, how do you know how much the wine costs at a host club?” Akiyama asked, thinking back to when he ran a club, and charged way more for wine than these people were.

“An assault charge based around a guest in a host club complaining that the wine was overpriced and then smashing the bottle over the manager's head.” Sae explained very quickly.

It had been an enjoyable meal and evening as Akiyama made his way back to his office, a spring in his step as he made his way up the metal gantry and into the still-lit office, waking Hana up from what seemed to be a deep sleep as he shut the door behind him. “Hana-chan?” Akiyama began, shocked that she was still here “What are you doing here this late?”

“Oh! Uh...” Hana stumbled, wiping away the drool around her mouth with a nearby tissue “I thought that since you closed early, I'd better stay and make sure everything was fine here and that we didn't get robbed again.” she said, being surprisingly coherent for someone who'd just woken up.

“...Really?” Akiyama asked, not believing a word of it.

“Yes!” Hana insisted before swiftly changing the subject “So how did the date go?” she asked with a lot more enthusiasm as Akiyama started to put the picture together.

“It went well! You can get rid of that dating profile of me now. Don't need any more attention.” He said with a smile, throwing his jacket across the room with satisfaction.

“So when's the next date?” Hana asked with great interest.

“There isn't one.” Akiyama announced as he collapsed on the couch and stretched out like a cat.

“Wha- I thought you said it went well?!” the secretary demanded, marching over to the resting financier.

“It did, we're going bowling in a few weeks.”

“Isn't that a date?”

“No, it's two people who have a little too much to deal with trying to unwind while they talk shit about life around them,” Akiyama explained “Much less pressure than a date, and you don't have to care about eyeshadow.”

Hana sighed dejectedly as she went to pick up her things “Good enough I guess...” she said.

“Aww Hana-chan, you can't get rid of me that easily.”

Chapter Text

Tokyo Police Headquarters was as busy as it ever was, patrol officers constantly bouncing back and forth with coffee cups in hand, detectives hunched over files and screens with more coffee cups, and some of the prosecutors barking orders, also with coffee cups. It took a lot of caffeine to take a modern day police force running smoothly, and that had its drawbacks when it started to wear thin. Sae Nijiima knew this all too well and timed her grand entrance accordingly.

Her first case as a leading defence attorney wasn't a complicated one, the man they had sitting in a cell for assault had been no-where near the scene of the crime and she had both eye-witnesses and a card receipt for the lunchbox he purchased in a convenience store at the approximate time that the victim was getting free amateur dentistry in a chain two miles away. The police had only picked him up off a vague description and now the prosecutor assigned thought he could bully another man into a false confession and get it wrapped up before happy hour. Unfortunately for him, not everyone in the force was aware that Sae had switched sides and let her waltz right in through the precinct.

“Takeo!” She yelled, marching over to a pair of suited men who in sync spilled their fresh coffee cups over their hands and winced. The old cup had just worn off.

“N-Niijima?” Prosecutor Takeo stuttered “I thought you left to become an attorney?” he said, trying to force the memory through the caffeine withdrawal.

“I did. I am. And that's why I'm here,” she said quickly, keeping him off guard “The man you have in the cells for the Champion District assault case? You're letting him go with a full apology and maybe some compensation in the next thirty minutes, and that's if you're smart. If you're dumb enough to want to take this further and bolster your flailing record in the courtroom, here's ten reasons you'd be lucky not to be disbarred.” she finished, throwing in the Niijima glare for good measure.

It took twenty minutes before her heels clicked down the steps outside the detention centre, her client right beside her “I... I cannot thank you enough...” He wheezed, still out of breath from how fast his fortunes turned around.

“Then don't,” she replied, leading him to the taxi rank “Besides, there's still my fees to pay later.”

“Of..of course. My wife should be able to sort something out.” he said, ducking into the back of a cab and waving goodbye as Sae checked her watch. She still had time before tonight.

It was one of the curious things about having been a professional since leaving college that Sae Niijima had next to nothing in the way of casual clothing for the evening. She had plenty of neat suits, a few evening dresses and ever since Makoto had left for the college campus she'd acquired a few clothes designated for slumming around the house when she was sure no one would ever see her, but general clothes for casual occasions was something she lacked. Which was a problem considering she was supposed to be going out on a non-date with Akiyama tonight.

At least her case had been wrapped up quickly enough for her to hit the shops, who knows she might actually find something fashionable that she would enjoy wearing every day. 'Or a meteroite might hit the Millenium Tower' she added to herself.

Akiyama had taken a different approach to preparing for tonight's events. Sky Finances had closed earlier than normal and the man in maroon was taking a nice long tiger-nap on the sofa, like a catnap, but bigger. “You should at least try to look decent.” Hana complained, ever the wing-woman.

“I put effort into the date, didn't I? Lint roller and dry cleaning, she's not going to mind if the jacket's a little lived-in at this point.” Akiyama waved off.

“When was the last time you went bowling?” Hana asked, throwing on a coat as she got ready to leave.

“About a month-” he started.

“Actual bowling, not on a screen with a remote.” she added.

“...couple years?” he suggested “It's bowling, you pick it up quickly enough. Besides, it's not like this is going to be a big competition between us. It's an excuse to drink crappy beer and laugh at dumb things that happened to us.”

Akiyama was wrong, but he didn't realise how wrong until the fifth frame of the first game. She was already beating him 89 to 34, and she was a drink ahead to top it off. Although that last point was mitigated by the fact that individual sherry trifles had more alcohol content than this beer by the taste of things “Geez, if I knew you were coming in hot like that, I would have gotten some practice rounds in.” he winced as the pins scattered before her wrath.

“I thought this was the practice round.” Sae said, trying to keep the smugness out of her voice. It wasn't as though she thought of herself as competitive, oh no, she just liked to win and didn't like to lose, so as an occasion where she was allowed to do what she liked, the silver haired attorney joyously crushed the competition with a sincere smile on her face. Anything to take her mind off how damn itchy this new top was, the tag label would be scratching her until she cut it off and threw it in the washer five times, she could tell.

“At least you didn't say anything like loser buys or anything,” Akiyama groaned as he stood up to take another poorly aimed swing at a strike. He felt as though he'd be better off kicking the balls down the alley instead of bowling them “So uh...” he said, trying to distract himself from overthinking the art of rolling a heavy ball down a slippery wooden path “What made you leave the prosecutors office?” he asked before throwing his next attempt, knocking most but not all of the pins down in just the right way to make it next to impossible to get the rest on the second attempt.

“Almost getting killed...” Sae sighed under her breath as Akiyama cheered when he managed to pick up the spare.

“Sorry, what was that?” he asked.

“A lot of things adding up.” Sae said more clearly.

“Anything in particular? Or just straws breaking camels backs and all that?”

“Well...” Sae began, trying to think of something to sate the sudden curiosity “How familiar are you with the Tojo Clan?” She asked.

Akiyama stiffened up immediately, reaching up to rub between his shoulders to try and play it off as a sudden muscle spasm “The Yakuza?”

“The very same... I was in charge of a big case a few years back,” she said, her tone already dropping from the re-lived frustration “Goro Majima, we'd finally caught the Mad Dog of Shimano with enough to make charges stick for good, or so we thought.”

“Well he ended up in jail, so what was the problem?” Akiyama asked as Sae sent a ball dashing down the alley with a bit more force than she normally threw into her bowling.

“That's what I thought at the time, we were getting to sentencing and he gets to speak out a few words. And do you know what he said?” She asked, the memories boiling over “He called me the prose-cutest.” Sae Niijima spat out as though it were a curse.

Akiyama had the good sense not to laugh but not the sense to not ask “I read the article, he was always a bit crazy so what's the big deal?”

“It was humiliating!” Sae snapped “Here was my big break that I'd worked so hard for, and now all anyone could think about was that dumb bit of flirting by the one-eyed freak! I'd cultivated a reputation as an Ice Queen despite the constant ribbing throughout law school and into the force, I was someone to fear, someone to respect. And this snakeskin wearing jackass pissed it all away! He probably did it on purpose as a last 'taking you with me' deal, ugh!” she ranted, trying not to think about how many people were turning to look at her as she threw a heavy ball straight into the gutter.

“That's bad...” Akiyama said quietly, trying not to provoke another explosion.

“It was never the same in the office after that. Months after I could still hear the chuckles from a few of the detectives.” She grumbled, slumping back into the seating.

“So a year of that crap building up and it was too much?” Akiyama asked after Sae started to settle down.

“No... there were other things but that started it all,” Sae sighed, leaning her head over the back of the seat “I started to blind myself to everything that wasn't going to give me more respect, even lashing out at my own family.”

“Rough,” he said, nodding along “Office politics were bad enough before I left my first job too,” Leaving the massive fraud that he was framed for go unsaid as he stood up to take his turn “Still keeping in the court room though.” He noted.

“As you're still working with money.” Sae replied.

“It's what we're good at, I guess,” Akiyama conceeded as another heavy ball rolled into the gutter with a sigh “Guess that's one perk to going solo. Not having bosses who need to be kicked in the head.”

With a glass of water in one hand and a hangover remedy pre-prepared for the following morning, Sae was starting to get ready for bed when her phone buzzed violently “Makoto,” she began after answering “What are you doing up this late?” she asked.

“I was studying, no lectures tomorrow so if needed I can regain lost sleep then. Besides, if I'm training to be a police officer, staying up late is part of the job,” she said defensively, probably not the best start to a phone conversation “A-anyway, I was wondering if everything was alright tonight-”

“It wasn't a date.” Sae sighed, attempting to end Makoto's inquisition.

“Oh..?” came the unsure reply.

“Think about it like... I don't know. What's the blond boy's name? It's as if you were spending an evening with him instead of paperwork. It means nothing for any relationship beyond friendship.” Sae tried to explain. Her sister had boy friends who weren't boyfriends, right? Unless she'd seriously misjudged the intimacy layer within the Phantom Thieves it shouldn't be that hard to understand that not every male/female interaction had a romantic subtext.

“I see,” came the calmer comment from Makoto “So how did it go?”

“It went well, thank you,” She replied with a faint smile “Now get some sleep or you'll hate the sun in the morning.”

Chapter Text

As Sae Niijima sat down in a snazzy bar, jazz music faintly playing in the background as she sipped a glass of wine, placing it down next to a half-full whiskey glass, a ball of ice bobbing up and down as the man sitting next to her sighed in relief, the burning sensation of drinking the high strength booze passing into the blissful haze of drunkenness, the attorney started to wonder if there was anything more here.

What had started as a clumsy attempt to get the two of them in a relationship had turned to something a lot more casual as both she and Akiyama relaxed around each other, but she couldn't help but notice how frequent these evenings out, complaining about how much their latest clients (no names or specifics, they were still professionals), were becoming. It wasn't as if the drinking was a constant either: they were both just as likely to order water or a soft drink over a meal as they were to hit the booze. But this was the second time this week that they were spending the evening together, by Tuesday. Maybe it was just the alcohol talking to her as she ran her finger over the wineglass, half listening to Akiyama's latest attempts to make his small firm appear as legitimate as possible “...So I got this message from one of the schools. They want me to let a student in for a week and I'm like... what the heck am I going to do with a kid? I can't put them on anything important and handling client's data is way out.”

“You could do what the police did last year,” Sae suggested “There's probably something menial to do, that's what happened to my little sister and she could have done the jobs that the detectives were doing better than they could”

“You'd think so, but there's really nothing to do that me and Hana aren't already doing, and a lot of it is really sensitive stuff. There's a reason there's ethics exams in most training courses... I mean no-one pays attention to them afterwards.”

“Same here.” The former prosecutor chuckled.

“Yeah, but the principles still there and you know a kid's gonna run his mouth the moment he sees something cool.” the financier whined as he knocked back the rest of the drink.

“They're eighteen, not ten year olds trying to convince their friends that they found a way to bring Aerith back from the dead. They've got some maturity,” Sae replied, adding an extra “Well some of them do.” a few seconds later.

“Who's Aerith?” Akiyama asked.

“Oh... never mind.” Sae retracted. That was another thing that was adding a wrinkle to any potential relationship: he was at least ten years older than her, maybe fifteen. He was a full adult when the Millennium Tower blew up (for the first time) while she was still in school, if she was any younger it would have seemed creepy in the way young woman hanging around significantly older men with more money than a small country tended to be creepy. But she wasn't that young any more, and she hadn't felt it for longer still, and Akiyama didn't exactly act like he was coming up to what would be considered a pretty good cricket score. “I'm just saying, they're not that young. You can trust them a little to be more than coffee bitches.”

“Yeah, I get it,” he shrugged, holding up a finger as he slid the empty glass back down the bar “It's just there's no real gap between 'things that are actually important' and 'things that are super confidential'. I mean, would you let someone you didn't know handle case files? Even cold ones?”

“No way,” Sae conceded as she finished her own drink, the background music fading into a haze as the wine did it's thing.

“Exactly, it's real tricky to find something for anyone to do, let alone someone who isn't old enough to drink.” Akiyama concluded as a replacement glass slid towards him with a little slip of paper attached with the running total of how much tonight's rant and whinge-fest was going to cost them.

“Although...” Sae pondered, rapping her knuckles on the bar to order another for herself “You could just say... screw it and have him do practically nothing.”

“Huh?” the financier looked up, the receipt now stuck to his thumb

“It's a career week, everyone who's ever done one knows they're awful and pointless. It's more of a test to see who's smart enough to act before they get stuck doing something menial, so if he or she didn't then well... that's life, you think it's gonna be smooth then you get screwed and stuck doing things you hate for people you hate more.” she explained, brain abuzz with recalled spite at her own experiences.

“Eeesch... harsh.” Akiyama winced.

“I know...” she sighed as she looked down at the fresh glass of wine, her reflection barely visible in the dark red drink, an awkward silence forming as they both stared into the booze for answers that weren't coming.

“So...” Akiyama started, trying to get the conversation going again as the ice clinked in the glass.

“So...what?” Sae asked back.

“So... is there anything you wanted to do tonight? Karaoke maybe? Bit late to grab any food, restaurants are closing and I got banned from all the Smile Burgers in Tokyo.”

“You got banned from Smile Burger?”

“Wasn't my fault!” Akiyama protested “But yeah... I did. Stupid thing, it was late night and I wanted a milkshake.”

“Do the milkshake machines ever work in there?” Sae chuckled. Some things apparently never changed.

“Exactly, so I was stuck waiting for them to try and get them working and these guys burst in, shoulder me out the way and start their order like I'm not there. Me, being the genius that I was at god knows what hour, decided that I wasn't going to let this stand so I coughed politely... then they recognised me. Turns out they were a bunch of thugs hired by a local Loan Shark who thought an independent trader like myself was cutting in to their business.”

“Oh god...” the attorney groaned.

“So, long story short one guy takes a swing so I fight back, next thing I know the guy at the counter's stammering at me to get out because you're not supposed to put a guy through the crappy plastic tables even if they've got a chair. So I found out. Didn't know that was a rule, there weren't any signs.” Akiyama continued as Sae just burst into laughter.

“Akiyama,” she wheezed “Look, if you're going to make up a reason why you got banned from a fast food place, can you at least make a more convincing one?”

“What did I say?” Akiyama said, briefly snapping out of the haze. He'd hung around people like Kiryu for too long where they could share that kind of crazy world stories, Sae wasn't part of that world.

“That you beat up a bunch of goons in a Smile Burger while waiting for a midnight milkshake.”

“Ah, right. I think that's a signal that it's time to start moving.” Akiyama coughed, it was probably better to rub that sort of thing off as a product of being sober enough to talk but drunk enough to not realise what he was saying was true or not.

“Alright, last drink then walk back to the taxi rank?” She asked.

“Last drink.” he agreed.

The walk back wasn't as simple as they had intended, the bar, while very pleasant, was a right arse to get to and from. For one it was up on the fifth floor of an office block with no elevator access: as though people who couldn't climb stairs never needed a drink and that those who had too much were capable of negotiating a dimly lit stairwell. For two, it was practically the most annoying place to get a taxi from at late night: the nearest rank was three blocks away following the main roads and they were filled with late night activities that the already buzzing Akiyama and Sae didn't want to lose another couple hours to. So when Akiyama said he knew a shortcut, Sae followed, not caring how overdressed both of them looked for a dingy alley. At least the close walls were much needed support for when their heads started spinning.

“Are you sure this is a short cut?” Sae asked as they took a turn.

“I'm sure. I used to use this alley all the time.” Akiyama assured her, taking a confident lead.

“I'm just going to check the map on my phone...”

“Look, if I'm right, we should be coming up to a little backyard lot and it's just the other side of that.”

“Can't get a signal...”

“It's fine, see. We're already at the... backlot...” Akiyama trailed off as he walked into the concreted square, five men in heavy dark purple coats, lounging around near a fire escape “Excuse us gentlemen.” he said, trying to move through in an awkward silence. Sae sticking close to the financier with a stiff look.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa. What's the hurry, man?” One of them asked, casually sauntering over to the not-couple, pointedly blocking the exit.

“Sae, stay behind me,” Akiyama whispered before looking up at the man in the way “Oh you know, places to be. Trying to get a cab. You gotta get there fast on nights like these or you're waiting in the rain for ages.”

“That's no problem, I'm sure one of us can give you a ride later.” The apparent ring leader dismissed as the rest started to circle around, chuckling as they did so.

“You're already dressed for a good time anyway, so let's get started huh?” One of them joked, reaching out towards Sae with a sinister smile. Akiyama's eyes narrowed as he caught a glimpse of what was happening, his body tensed and in an instant, the offending goon who had tried to grab the attorney's arm was now slumped face first against the wall, giving a pained groan before collapsing down on the ground out cold from one kick.

“What the hell!?” One of the less confident thugs screamed out, staggering back in shock as everyone stared in surprise at to what just happened, and most surprised of all of them was Akiyama.

“Uh... Sae?” He asked nervously as the former prosecutor pulled her foot back down from driving the thug's skull into a wall. He was about to do that.

“You- you'll pay for that!” The ringleader declared as he tried to push past Akiyama, only to find himself soaring through the air as the financier swept his legs out from under him.

“Guess we're doing this then!” Akiyama declared, raising up his fists as one of the jacketed hooligans reached around for something to use as a weapon, settling for an old bicycle that he struggled to handle.

The fight was short, brutal and beautiful in a terrifying way. The two drunken professionals moved in a manner halfway between a Taekwondo exhibition troupe and dangerous pit fighters as they spun, kicked and smashed through anyone who was still trying to threaten them. By the time it was over, the group had limped away, carrying their stricken friends over their shoulders as they tried to keep their noses attached to the rest of their face. Breathing a sigh of relief as their foes scurried away, Akiyama leaned back against the wall, trying to make sense of it all “You okay Sae?” he asked, only for a yank of his blazer to pull him down into a sudden kiss.

The former prosecutor pulled away as quickly as she'd start “Yes I'm... I'm fine, just was a bit of a rush...” Sae breathed as she moved back, trying to stand back up straight, at some point one of the heels had come loose “A real... real... rush.”

Akiyama was left dumbstruck against the wall, his alcohol infused brain trying to process what just happened “That... it... usually is,” He eventually settled for as he held out his arm for Sae to lean on as he led them to the taxi rank.

“Promise me,” Sae began as they strapped themselves in the back of the first available cab, giving the order to head to Sae's home first “That you won't tell anyone what happened.”

“I'm good with confidential.” Akiyama nodded, a dopey grin forming on his face.

“Good.” Sae agreed, taking deep breaths as she tried to compose herself.

“But... aren't you going to ask me something?” Akiyama asked as Sae re-tensed up. “Do you still think I was lying about the milkshake story?”

The attorney couldn't help herself as she burst out laughing. “Oh god... you were serious weren't you...” she wheezed

“Not completely seriously. There was only one guy,” He joked, earning a playful shove on the shoulder as the street lights flickered past. “So... when do you want to start talking about what happened?”

“I don't know,” Sae admitted “a lot happened at once.”

“Well, when you do. You've got my number, and know where I work.”

“Thank you, Akiyama.” She smiled as the taxi pulled up to her apartment complex, stepping out as he waved her good night before slumping back into the taxi, head spinning as he paid up more than enough to take him home. Not that he was going to get that much sleep tonight.